Libuv event loop

I'm wondering if there is a way to use libuv in the background. I've tried the following in init_worker_by_file, and it appears that while the timers fire and the thread is started, subsequent requests never get control:

local uv = require('luv')
local ngx = require('ngx')
print("Initializing worker (hopefully)")
local function my_loop_init_timer(premature)
  -- This timer is run in init context and (hopefully) will let us start a
  -- light thread in the worker context
  local function my_loop_thread()
    -- this hopefully persists for the lifetime of the worker
    print("UV thread executing, uv FD is: " .. uv.backend_fd())
    while ngx.worker.exiting() == false do
      -- I know this is busy waiting, but I don't know another way to tell lua-nginx to poll the fd
      while uv.run("nowait") do
        coroutine.yield()
      end
      coroutine.yield()
      uv.sleep(1)
    end
  end
  ngx.thread.spawn(my_loop_thread)
end
print("Main interpreter is running, uv FD is: " .. uv.backend_fd())

ngx.timer.at(0, my_loop_init_timer)

Start with the init_worker_by_file sequence shown in the issue, especially ngx.timer.at, ngx.thread.spawn, and luv.run. Determine whether libuv can be polled in the background without blocking subsequent requests; done means UV timers continue running while worker requests retain control.